


Day 238

by Josh_the_Bard



Series: A Year in Kirkwall [238]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:08:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26130046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh_the_Bard/pseuds/Josh_the_Bard
Series: A Year in Kirkwall [238]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589257
Kudos: 1





	Day 238

Thrask met with the youngest son of the Trevelyans an hour before the tide would be right for their departure. The two men found a secluded corner in one of the dockside taverns to talk. It had been years since Thrask had told this story to anyone and it was difficult to get started, though he could sense the young lord’s eagerness to listen.

“What I am about to tell you,” Thrask said, “would destroy me if word got out. I need a vow of secrecy from you before I tell you my story.”

“Of course,” Carmelo said. “You have my oath not to reveal your secret. I only want to understand why the Circle is the way it is.”

Thrask nodded. That would have to be good enough.

“I have been a templar for many years now,” he said. “Few among the order find the time or the inclination to start a family. I learned why in the hardest of ways. I had… I had a daughter. Her mother was… we were never married and I kept my family’s existence a secret from the rest of the order. Olivia, my daughter, she was a perfect child born into a terrible world.” Despite his ramblings, Carmello still gave Thrask his undivided attention.

“When she was nine years old her magic manifested,” he continued, “In the years leading up to that time Meredith was clamping down harder and harder on the maged. These were the times Sir Mettin was telling you about. I could see the hope die in the hearts of the Circle mages day by day. There were suicides, many more than usual. I didn’t want that for my daughter. I used my position in the Order to keep her hidden for years. I wasn’t able to see her very often, I wasn’t able to be a proper father to her. Even if things had been better in the Circle, mages related to templars are sent to other Circles as a matter of course. I couldn’t bear to lose her completely. She was always so kind and caring and she could see what it cost me to keep her secret. When she was old enough to take care of herself, she made the choice to leave Kirkwall. I had some coin saved up for her and I put her in contact with those I thought could help get her to safety.”

Thrask called for a drink. They waited in silence until the barmaid came over. Thrask downed the entire pint in a few deep gulps. Thrask rarely drank anything but water and lyrium and could already feel his nerves steadying. He called for another round in case his nerves needed a bit more support. 

“They betrayed her,” Thrask continued. “The ship’s crew that was to take her away, instead captured her, intending to sell her into slavery.” The barmaid was back with more drinks now and Thrask downed this one too.

“I was not there with her at the end, as I should have been. She became possessed. The terror they put her through was too much for her. She and her captors were killed by the Champion, though he was just Hawke then.”

“You wanted to know what the problem with the Circle was? It is fear. The fear templars use to control mages and the fear the templars feel from the mages. In another world I would have been able to have had a proper family. Olivia could have lived free to do with her life whatever she wanted and I could have been there to help her control her magic. Instead, she had to live in constant fear of discovery until the day she died. The reason Kirkwall has more failed Harrowings then any other Circle is because the apprentices live in constant terror and it draws dramon to them more readily. The reason Rivain’s mages flourish is because they know joy as well as pain. It should be like that here, but it can’t… not with Meredith in charge.”

“If the mages had more control of their lives,” Carmello ventured, “if they had a say in the running of the circle?”

“Now that you have heard my story,” Thrask said, “What do you intend to do?”

“My father has a lot of influence in the Chantry,” Carmello said. “I doubt he’ll listen to what I have to say, but I promise to say it anyway. If I can help people like you and your daughter, I will try. But as the third child of Marcher I doubt I’ll ever be in a position to change much.”

Carmello paid for Thrask’s drinks and left to meet his father at the boat. Thrask felt a sudden wave of hopelessness. If even the sympathetic nobility didn’t see a path change, what chance did a washed up templar have. But talking about his daughter again reminded him why he was trying. He could not falter now.


End file.
